Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Wowza Streaming Cloud

SRS (Simple Realtime Server) is an open-source, high-performance real-time media server designed for building live streaming and real-time communication (RTC) services. It acts as a streaming gateway that ingests and delivers media across multiple protocols with an emphasis on low latency and efficiency.

Key Features

• Multi-protocol streaming support including RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, HTTP-FLV, SRT, MPEG-DASH, and GB28181
• Broad codec compatibility, including H.264, H.265/HEVC, AV1, VP9, AAC, Opus, and G.711
• Designed for high throughput and low-latency delivery for live streaming and RTC scenarios
• Docker-friendly deployments and support for cloud-native workflows
• Built-in observability support (commonly used with Prometheus exporters)

Use Cases

• Live streaming platforms that need RTMP ingest with HLS/HTTP-FLV/WebRTC playback
• Low-latency streaming for interactive events, gaming, and real-time broadcasts
• Video gateway services bridging traditional streaming protocols with WebRTC

Limitations and Considerations

• Primarily focused on media transport/gateway capabilities; a complete video platform typically requires additional components (players, authentication, recording/transcoding pipelines)

SRS is a strong fit when you need a reliable, efficient media server with broad protocol support and production-oriented performance characteristics. It is commonly used as a core building block in custom live streaming and WebRTC solutions.

Owncast is a free and open source live video streaming and web chat server that you run on your own infrastructure. It is designed for single-channel creators and works with common broadcasting tools by ingesting RTMP and delivering streams to viewers via the web.

Key Features

• RTMP ingest compatibility with popular broadcasters (for example, OBS and similar tools)
• HLS-based web playback with an integrated viewer page
• Built-in live chat, including support for custom emotes and community interaction
• Admin interface for stream configuration, moderation, and managing the viewer experience
• Optional Fediverse integration via ActivityPub so people can follow and share streams across compatible networks
• Embeddable player and chat components for integrating into other sites

Use Cases

• Run an independent live stream for a community, club, or small organization
• Host creator live streams without relying on centralized streaming platforms
• Add live video and chat to an existing website using embeds

Limitations and Considerations

• Primarily designed for a single streamer/channel rather than multi-tenant streaming platforms
• Does not natively support running as a Windows server (typically run on Linux; WSL2 may be used on Windows)

Owncast provides a straightforward way to control your live content, audience experience, and chat community from a server you manage. It is well-suited for creators who want a lightweight, independent alternative with familiar broadcasting workflows.

datarhei Restreamer is a self-hosted live streaming server that ingests video from sources like OBS or IP cameras, processes streams via FFmpeg, and publishes them to your website and/or external platforms. It combines a browser-based UI with streaming protocols and a documented API to manage inputs, outputs, and monitoring.

Key Features

• Ingest and publish using common streaming protocols (including RTMP, SRT, and HLS)
• Restream a single input to multiple outputs (e.g., social platforms or other streaming servers)
• Web-based setup wizard and streamlined administration interface
• Built-in embeddable web player and optional publication page
• FFmpeg-based transcoding and processing, including muxing separate audio
• Hardware-accelerated encoding support (e.g., NVIDIA CUDA), depending on deployment
• Bandwidth/viewer monitoring and optional limiting
• REST API with OpenAPI/Swagger documentation
• TLS automation with Let’s Encrypt for HTTPS (deployment-dependent)

Use Cases

• Publish a live stream to your own website while simultaneously restreaming to major platforms
• Centralize ingest from OBS and distribute to multiple RTMP/SRT endpoints
• Create a lightweight streaming gateway for events using commodity hardware (including SBCs)

Limitations and Considerations

• Reliable transcoding and multi-output restreaming can require significant CPU/GPU resources
• External publishing depends on the capabilities and limits of the destination platforms

Restreamer is a practical choice for organizations and creators that want to control their streaming stack while keeping setup approachable. Its UI-driven configuration, multi-protocol support, and API make it suitable for both simple live embeds and more advanced distribution workflows.

OvenMediaEngine (OME) is a low-latency live streaming server designed for large-scale, high-definition delivery. It can ingest live inputs via multiple broadcast protocols, optionally transcode them, and deliver streams to viewers using WebRTC and Low-Latency HLS.

Key Features

• Multi-protocol ingest and pull, including WebRTC, SRT, RTMP, RTSP, and MPEG-2 TS
• Sub-second playback via WebRTC and low-latency delivery via LL-HLS
• Embedded live transcoder with adaptive bitrate (ABR) output
• Origin-edge clustering model for scalable deployments
• DVR (live rewind), file recording, and dump-to-VOD workflows
• WebRTC signaling over WebSocket and support for WebRTC over TCP with embedded TURN
• Access control features including signed policies and admission webhooks
• Monitoring and REST API for automation and operational integration

Use Cases

• Low-latency interactive live events and auctions using WebRTC playback
• Large-scale live broadcasting with ABR output and edge distribution
• Streaming platform backends that need to accept RTMP/SRT and deliver LL-HLS/WebRTC

Limitations and Considerations

• Some advanced capabilities (for example certain DRM workflows) may require careful client/player compatibility and licensing considerations
• Operational tuning (ports, UDP reachability, TURN behavior, origin-edge topology) is important to achieve consistent sub-second latency

OvenMediaEngine is well-suited for teams building their own live streaming infrastructure where ultra-low latency and protocol flexibility are key. It combines ingest, transcoding, and delivery in one server to simplify building scalable real-time streaming services.

MistServer is a full-featured open-source streaming media toolkit for OTT, live and VOD workflows. It provides a modular controller-based architecture, a web management interface and an API for automation and integration.

Key Features

• Broad protocol support for ingest and egress including HLS (CMAF/TS), MPEG-DASH, RTMP, RTSP, SRT, RIST and WebRTC for low-latency delivery.
• Wide container and codec compatibility (MP4, MKV, TS, FLV; H.264, H.265/HEVC, AV1, VP8/VP9 and common audio codecs) with configurable transmuxing and live MP4/recording options.
• Low-latency capabilities via WebRTC (including WHIP/WHEP variants), SRT and LL-HLS plus options for segmenting/transmuxing for different player targets.
• Modular runtime: MistController discovers and runs Mist* binaries, web UI listens on port 4242 and a programmable API and trigger system enable automation and integration.
• Built for building from source with Meson/Ninja; optional ffmpeg integration for encoding/transcoding processes and optional libsrt/librist support; official Docker assets and prebuilt binaries are provided.

(mistserver.org)

Use Cases

• OTT streaming platform: multi-protocol delivery (HLS/DASH) for adaptive bitrate delivery to browsers, mobile apps and set-top boxes.
• Ultra/low-latency streaming and preview: WebRTC, SRT or RIST for real-time monitoring, remote production and interactive streams.
• VOD hosting and live-to-VOD workflows: on-the-fly transmuxing, recording to MP4/MKV/TS and integration with storage and analytics pipelines.

Limitations and Considerations

• Feature variance between editions: the open-source edition omits several Pro features (DRM, some access-control features, certain recording/analytics/process tools), so production needs requiring DRM or enterprise support should verify edition capabilities.

(mistserver.org)

MistServer is practical for developers and integrators who need a flexible, protocol-rich media server with programmatic control and multiple output formats. It is optimized for Linux-based deployments and provides tooling for compilation, container deployment and integration.